


The Things We Don't Say

by Gerudo_Fanfiction_Club, ZeldaMalheiros



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, I'll add more character as needed, Legend of Zelda References, Post BotW, Teen Angst, after the calamity falls, botw, i also added a happy little blissful scene because I needed it too, it's supposed to be hella angsty, the legend of zelda - Freeform, with a lot of feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 10:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14518371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerudo_Fanfiction_Club/pseuds/Gerudo_Fanfiction_Club, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaMalheiros/pseuds/ZeldaMalheiros
Summary: Right after the Calamity is sealed, Zelda wants to know if Link remembers her, but seeing  her again might be what Link feared the most. The voice that has been guiding him after the waking up alone and not remembering anything has materialised in the body of the memories he got back, but he can't bring himself look at that light.





	The Things We Don't Say

**Author's Note:**

> Although I thought about it as a One-Shot, I'm not certain if I still think like that. I have more ideas to write about, but honestly I wanted to see what everyone thought about this one. I'm very feelsy and I might enjoy describing feelings way too much, but I won't apologise for that.  
> Would love to know if you anyone else enjoyed it.  
> (btw English is not my first language, so please keep that in mind when you see mistakes. Sorry!).  
> ALSO, I'm beyond grateful to Gerudo_Fanfiction_Club, for giving me great writing advices, revising my text many times and encouraging me to keep on writing. I advise you all to check her work as well!

**The Light**

 

After the explosion of light that swallowed the darkness in which Hyrule had been under for the last hundred years, Link kept his eyes fixed on the sky. The red dark clouds had moved so quickly that it looked as if the sky was bleeding out. He didn’t want to look at who was in front of him. This person that descended in the most pure form of light and sealed the calamity away. He was anxious to see her, to meet her again. He forced himself to take a brief glance at her figure, but she still had her back to him staring at the vast field where the calamity had been.

Finally, she turned, and Link looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring. “I’ve been keeping watch over you all this time…” Zelda said. “I’ve witnessed your struggles to return to us as well as your trials in battle.” She began to walk towards him. He could tell that her tone was happy… she actually sounded _hopeful._ “I always thought, no… I always believed that you would find the way to defeat Ganon.”

She was now right in front of him and he could tell she was looking for something in him.

 

“I never lost the faith in you over this many years. Thank you, Link… The hero of Hyrule.” She paused. It seemed as what she was going to say next made her feel insecure. “May I ask… do you really remember me?”

She was trying to meet his gaze, but he had the sudden feeling that he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He struggled with himself, making a tight fist with his hand. Until he gathered the strength to meet Zelda’s eyes and found himself staring deep into her green eyes. A sudden cold paralyzed his chest. He didn’t know why or how, but those eyes, his heart ached by the sudden realization. Her eyes looked tired, but they weren’t sad. He’d had expected that they were going to show the weight of a hundred years of being trapped by the calamity. Instead, she looked… she looked okay, okay but tired. His lungs and heart were feeling trapped inside his rib cage the more he stared into her eyes.

“Do you remember me?” She said again, this time her voice a pitch lower. Her gaze pierced through him. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Zelda kept on getting closer, until the distance between them made his spine go stiff. He stared and wondered, if he could read anything in her eyes that would show him a way out of the indescribable feeling, but he couldn’t. It was maybe his memory or maybe that he hasn’t seen her in a hundred years. But it couldn’t be that, because something inside of him kept telling him that those eyes and that stare were as familiar as wielding the master sword again.

“You don’t remember me” she said in a soft voice, her smile slowly disappearing and eyes shifting away. All at once, Link felt the weight of her hundred years of despair; all hope he distinguished before was now gone and that hurt more than any wound in any battle. However, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her, it  would only feel unfair to say he remembered her as she probably did him. She bit her lip and a moment later looked back at him, her eyes full of tears. The pain she held behind her tears was the final blow for Link. His heart began to throb; why was her pain, the pain of someone he had such little memories from, getting into him like this? Why was he unable to speak? What was wrong with him?

She covered her face and turned away from him, sobbing so hard Link thought she had trouble breathing. This time he didn’t freeze. He turned her around by the shoulders and embraced her tightly.

“Link…” she whispered out of surprise.

The mention of his name by her sent an electric wave of warmth to his brain.

 

“I’m sorry” was the only thing he could tell her. She let her arms fall from her face and gave into his embrace, putting her own arms around him. It was only then, that he realized he was longing this encounter and this embrace. He could feel the tears stinging in his own eyes, his chest threatening to make him lose his composure. He wanted to tell her that the moment he stared into her eyes there was something he couldn’t tell what it was had awaken in him. Something so little that somehow grew even larger the moment she turned unhappy, but he had no clear idea of what it was.

 

It would be hard to tell how long they stood there with their arms around each other, both crying out their hundred years of silent pain. Her body trembled so hard, while he was trying not to melt from tiredness. It really felt as if their bodies were going to fail them, but they held onto each other. After all, the only ones who could understand what they were going through, were them. They had each other to share the pain and hopefully that’d make it better.

The air began to get humid when Link interrupted the silence. “It’s going to rain.” Zelda broke away from his arms, her eyes red and puffy. She looked up at the sky which was now covered in dark clouds.

 

“We should probably be heading somewhere before it catches us” Link cleared his voice “Riverside Stable is just half an hour away with Epona”.

 

“I haven’t felt the rain in a hundred years” she said and her eyes light up. “Can we stay a while longer?”

 

He stood there and smiled, it finally felt more comfortable to look at her, who again surprised him with her little hints of light. He realized that he didn’t exactly know how he knew that she was trying to be positive, but he didn’t feel like questioning it. A part of him wanted to tell her they had to go now, that she needed to change her dress and get under a roof before she got wet and caught a cold, but being totally honest to himself, taking it easy now that they were free from the calamity could do them some good.

  


As the rain poured over her, Zelda opened her arms and faced the sky, letting the rain drops run down her clothes, face, hair and wash the pain away.

 

“Thank you,” she began. Her voice was reflecting not only hope, but safety. She offered him a half-hearted smile and tilted her head. “Do you think we can go somewhere where we can be alone?”

 

The question caught Link by surprise, but he thought it was understandable why she couldn’t bring herself to be around people now.  She was tired, probably overwhelmed by being back on the field with no one to fear. She probably wanted and needed to be alone. He agreed with the idea. He didn’t know if taking her somewhere with people was a good idea anymore. She hasn’t been around anyone since he began fighting Ganon, nor has she expressed something about the people she lost. He looked at her in owe. He knows she hasn’t forgotten about the champions, her father or the fallen kingdom. She was being strong. Was she always this strong? He wished he remembered more about her. “Yeah, I know a place.”

 

Zelda walked to him, it felt as the rain was pouring harder than before, like the sky was crying with her. She took Link by the hand and smiled while dragging him as she was used to have other men dragging her to dance in the big hall where the parties had been held, except that now she wasn’t wearing a fancy tight dress or being surrounded by fancy important people. She was here, dirty, tired and wet under the rain with Link. She felt like dancing along with her knight, after all who was here to judge her actions? Just thinking about that stung in her heart. There was no one to do it, everyone was gone. However, she pushed those thoughts aside. Sorrow and grief over them had been in her heart for a century. Therefore she decided that letting that go for a moment couldn’t wait.

 

“Come on, Link” she smiled, “Let it flow”. She began to move her feet and circled under his hand, trying to push him a bit to let himself relax.

 

It took him a minute, but then there he was. He stopped and took off the sword, shield, bow and arrows, and followed her into the rain. He didn’t feel comfortable moving so wildly at first. Zelda might have noticed, he thought to himself, because she grabbed his hands again and guided him.

 

“We are free!” she cried lively and the boy replied with a bright smile. For the first time in her life she saw him having fun. She was enjoying it, she was free from the evil, she back was in her beloved land. Her feet were kissing the wet grass, her skin wet with rain and the hands holding someone she missed so much. She couldn’t bring herself to think the future. For so long had she just hoped to feel like this, truly liberated.

 

Her eyes were filled with bliss, so much that he couldn’t take his own eyes out of hers while they were dancing. He wondered if there was a time when he had really learnt how to dance, but now the only thing that mattered was what Zelda has said: they were free. No more fighting or darkness to fight off. No more troubled nights wondering if he could make it. No more nights wondering how would it be to meet her again. Now, she was here, she did it. He remembered that when he awakened at the Shrine of Resurrection he had heard her voice saying that he was the light that must shine over Hyrule. In this moment though, seeing her this excited with such a simple thing was almost unbelievable. She was a princess, used to to the most expensive gifts and treats, and now she was the happiest person he had ever seen, just because she was able to dance under the rain. She was happier than kids playing. Her smiled shone so bright that he felt her light swallowing the darkness in him. In that moment he thought to himself he’d like to do the same for her. Take away all the darkness that might remain in her, and fill her world with light, just as her smile had done for him.


End file.
